How To Easily Avoid Being Crushed By An Estate Tax

By Author: Otto Ruebsamen
Total Articles: 136
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There must be some reason that the rich keep getting richer. Think about it-generations upon generations have managed to pass their wealth on to their progeny. The Rockefeller and Kennedy families have done it. The Gates and Buffet and Trump families will do it. If you have survived this market, and made any money at all in it, you have got to start thinking about how to pass it on to your next generation. Sure, the government needs money too, but don't let them take all of yours through an estate tax. Take these steps now to preserve your estate tomorrow.

As you start to plan your estate transference, you are taking the right first step. Read and learn as much as you possibly can about estate tax and passing wealth on. You will likely find confusing, or even conflicting information. Write it down, and research. Ask questions. You can never learn too much about this topic; estate tax can be very interesting when studied in depth.

Have you been the beneficiary of estate transference? Did you inherit property, stocks, cash, a business, or other assets? Was that process a wealth building exercise for ...
... you? Then talk to the person or people responsible for executing the estate and estate tax. Find out what they did, and how the process was planned out. If you inherited an estate (or, more likely parts of an estate) that did not go well, or where you ended up owing money instead of making money, ask questions about that process too. Where did it go well? Where did it run off the rails? Where would the executor, or the original estate planner, make changes to the plan or its execution? Start talking now. If one of your family members is working on an estate transference plan, talk to them about how their plan will deal with the issue of estate tax. You both may learn something.

Thus armed with the information you have learned so far, you can start planning your own estate, with the estate tax and its rules firmly planted and well understood. Your next step is to start thinking about how you would distribute your assets. Consider the case of the Buffet and Gates. These men started with a small fortune, turned it into an enormous fortune, and are passing on only a small fortune to their next generations. Enough to live comfortably on, but if the next Gates generation wants to count itself among the richest people in the world; they will have to earn most of it themselves. Gates, like Buffet, is dedicating the bulk of his fortune to philanthropic causes. Will you follow in their footsteps? How much of your estate should be passed to your family versus passed to a charity or a church? Don't make a decision just yet, but start to frame the conversation.

Finally, discuss your thoughts with the people you are considering passing your estate to. They likely know their own situation better than you do. They will know how an estate tax will impact them.

For now though, keep reading. Go find that next article!
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